Olatunbosun Taofeek’s love for writing is inspired by his area of interest as a psychobiographer. A university teacher specialising in literary psychobiography, he has served as a cultural ambassador and has received nominations as well as awards in literary and public speaking circles.
Taofeek, who made the prestigious Nigeria Prize for Literature longlist last year, is also on the list this year for The Children at the IDP Camp.
In this interview with thelagosreview’s Terh Agbedeh, he talks about the inspiration behind The Children at the IDP Camp, the significance of bringing up children to be kind and how literature can contribute to social change.
As a psychobiographer, how does your academic background influence your storytelling, particularly in exploring the psychology of your characters like Danlami?
My area of research is a complex one. That area is not commonly seen because it is controversial and contextual. Psychobiography is situated in psychology where you use psychological measurements to interpret biographies. [It] is an extension known as literary psychobiographical criticism under the study of literary criticism and theories. Therein you engage literary criticism at the psychobiographical level. You investigate the interconnectivity or the connectography interplaying in the psyche as displayed by the case studied biography. In my case, investigated from the creative writing perspective as a literary exercise. It is like a forensic investigation into what we call: “the study of the personology” –a personality exigency. In some literary discourse, this is referred to as biographic criticism.
But not truly, because psychobiographical criticism is complex and more daunting than biographical criticism which only deals with the biography. You need all the necessary information about a person to do such criticism but psychobiographical needs the sociology of that person, the personality map of that person and other related documentations as written for or against that person in question. Because someone can depersonalise himself/herself from available documents just like you have in the case of the guy who took a shot at Donald Trump. If the investigators cannot trace the cause of his action(s) then they have failed. The boy or his sponsors have depersonalised the shooting, so the question remains hanging. Excerpt you import concepts in depersonalisation you may not get the reason behind his action.
This area is so secluded that when I submitted my proposal to my department, they refused to approve it. It took me a lot to convince them that it was doable.
I first contacted the leading expert in a closely related area, William Todd Schultz who told me it was possible, he recommended his books for me and encouraged me to go ahead and I went ahead and it worked.
So, in my investigation, I selected two creative writers one dead and the other living to do my investigation for four years. The training I got made me proficient in biographies, documentation, creativity and personality. So, when I was writing, I knew I needed to see those children, hear from them and read around them before zeroing in on the IDP camp.
What inspired you to write The Children at the IDP Camp and what message do you hope readers take away from Danlami’s acts of Kindness?
Kindness is a rare gospel you hear people talk about because it demands you do rather than say. Everyone wants to get and no one wants to give. People hardly understand that there is more reward in giving than receiving. This gospel is what Danlami preaches through his sacrificial disposition where he put others before himself—others before me. This is a hard product to sell even to the poor and the rich. More than any other time in the history of the world, greed in our world is the root of wars, crimes, genocide and all manner of vices.
Remove greed and man is free once again. Look, if you train your child to be kind, you have made a messiah for your society and the world. And messiahs are hard to come by. Actually, I was inspired by many people, especially my mother. When I was a teen, I tended to be greedy, and my mother observed it. I bought a video game at a point and I refused to allow others to play [with it]. It was all about me. My mother was studying me and waiting for when that attitude would put me in trouble. Indeed, one of my friends came in and stole the video game. I almost killed myself over it. To add salt to injury, my mother came and beat the hell out of me and finally, she dropped the golden rule that eventually formed my attitude towards life, “whatever you get in life does not belong to you. The way you got it is the way you should be ready to lose it.” A hard principle to follow. She told me that I should always endeavour to give half of whatever I have to others to reduce the burden of ownership. There is no gain in acquiring wealth all over the place because finally you will lose it. She tried as much to force me to be kind. My father always had it out with her because she would give out the house resources and even when tenants got quit notices they would go to her. Something amazed me at her death. After her burial one of her tenants came to me and said Mama lent me some money to treat my sick child, please have it back. Before her death “we” were looking for money, not knowing she still had to save the life of a kid on her deathbed.
It was a child with such kind of kindness I tried to build into Danlami as my hero. Nelson Mandela was like Danlami, Malcolm X that liberated the blacks in the US alongside Martin Luther King. What about Ghandi and Mother Teresa? These are the people who gave all they had, and we shall forever remember them. These are the people I used in building the character of Danlami so that the world can never forget him.
Hardly in this society do we train children to be kind, rather, we want them to be smart and rich but never kind.
How did your experiences teaching at institutes like the University of Lagos and Mountain Top University shape your approach to writing?
The good thing about teaching at the university is that you are always on the run to write papers, but papers are not lucrative enough to give you a place to stand globally. It’s a rigorous exercise for a secluded group who might not even read you. However, I was never comfortable with the university system because I wanted a world where I could control my time and life. I wanted to be a writer, not a lecturer. My greatest joy was that the university platform made it possible for me to write my early plays because students would act them after writing. I started writing from the University of Lagos and that place gave me a beginner’s opportunity. There I directed plays and taught theatre workshops. My Professors, Hope Eghagha and Bose Afolanyan were my drama teachers, and they gave me a free hand and we did a lot. At Mountain Top University, my Vice Chancellor, Professor Elijah Ayolabi, was a wonderful and well-organised VC. I wrote plays under him and one of the plays went ahead to make the NLNG Nigeria Prize for literature in 2023 and the second play is all over the world. I was also surprised that in one of the plays, somebody wrote something about me in a UK newspaper. I was also surprised that the play is studied at Stanford, Newwest University and others in the US. The play is in the Library of Congress, Stanford University, etc. and I never knew about it until I saw it online where the Universities say they have the hard copies of my plays in their libraries. I was surprised by the successes. The university is a good platform but a writer who wants to compete globally must go farther.
You have explored various genres in your works, from plays to poetry and now novels. How do you decide which form best suits the stories you want to tell?
Depending on my targeted audience. The audience determines the structure. Because people don’t go to the theatre, I write novels. I love the theatre, I write plays, and I have a profound message for preservation, I write poetry.
In The Children at the IDP Camp, you address the challenges faced by children in IDP camps. How do you believe literature can contribute to social change, particularly in addressing issues like this?
Thank you for this question! It is sad our society has left reading culture and has gone into the panlongo dance, an interesting but senseless dance. This accounts for why it is said if you want to hide things from the black man and put them in a book. Let me cite a critical case study in response to your question: a few years ago, a friend and I travelled and checked into a hotel on a book tour. Our hotel was one of the best in that country but guess what, not much conversation was done with us when we set in. Everything was written and instructions were passed across. We checked in and no attendant came to tell us how to do things, so we became careful and ate only breakfast and supper. When both of us were hungry we went out of the hotel to buy groceries, and we managed all through. When we were about to leave, we [discovered] everything we needed was already paid for. There was a manual in the room, we never read that manual that we could dial numbers to bring whatever we wanted. But it was too late and we left. Imagine if that could happen to us writers; what do you expect from the rest of the African societies?
That is why our society is going down. All we need or any society needs is already in a book. If our leaders were readers, we would not be in this terrible mess that we are in.
Let me burst your bubble, do you know that William Shakespeare’s title Measure for Measure was taken from Luke chapter 6: 35-38 in the Bible? The first treatise was The Poetics discovered by Aristotle, a book. The appearance of an invisible machine, deus ex machina (drone) is from Oresteia, a Greek play. The psychological treatment of the Oedipus complex, Electra complex, etc. used by Sigmund Freud were from Sophocles’ plays. It is in Africa we fail to realise that the earlier we go to books in search of life secrets the better it would be for us. If I can say it in words, literature books remain the first and last attempt to deliver us from our chains.
Your body of works includes historical plays like 1930: Life and Times of Ayo Babalola and Oronna and His Amotekun. What draws you to writing about historical and cultural themes?
I am first a Yoruba before being a Nigerian then an African before you can call me a human being. In other words, nature has placed me somewhere and it would be foolhardy not to know much about where nature placed me. This is not a case for an extremist view but a
responsibility to be responsible as a writer. I love things cultural and historical because I want to review the past and see how this can help the present and perhaps engage the future.
My mother was the one that drew me to history and culture. She was a complete Yoruba woman born by a hunter and farmer. The core Yoruba grassroots metaphors were there. Values were major trademarks and she could speak most of the Yoruba dialects. So, it was
the life of someone who communicated in proverbs and metaphors and lived and died in Yoruba worldview.
Next, I had a good history teacher in my secondary school. His name is Mr Felix Ahiante, a very tall man who was unintentionally close to anger as the keys were close to the doors. However, he was a very brilliant history teacher.
You’ve served as a cultural ambassador and received several awards for your literary contributions. How have these experiences influenced your writing journey?
In Botswana I studied some materials belonging to a dead writer named Bessie Head, in Ivory Coast I visited some materials on their spiritual archive in the museum, in Badagry, slaves and others. Those experiences have greatly helped my writing and how to pitch a story. Most of these experiences can be seen in my book Humans and Other Beings. Also, my yet-to-be released novel “Ominla,” which demonstrates that indeed I am a cultural ambassador.
Those two books are spiritual and historical. After reading them if you come across me you will start having suspicions about me. Both are out of this world and very uncommon kinds of writing.
What future projects or themes are you interested in exploring, and how do you see your work evolving in the coming years?
Well, let me keep that card close to my chest. I have a lot I want to do in the literary world. Just wait and see. You will be invited when it is time.
What do you have to say about Nigeria LNG Ltd’s sponsorship of the Nigeria Prize for Literature?
That organisation is wonderful for this kind of sponsorship. They are one of the best because they are investing in human capital. If I become the President of Nigeria or have the influence, they will be given all it takes to be great.
